Essay writing
Suggestions for essay writing for both dramas –
to improve your writing skills including your skills in analysis and comparison, to get wiser on the subject of the Elizabethans and their way of thinking and to get a deeper understanding of Othello and Richard III and their wicked ways.
1:
Write a paper about the concept of evil.
According to Richard III himself, he cannot be a lover, so he has to be a villain.
Is he right in saying that? Is a man either a lover or a villain?
Is there always a dichotomy between villainy and lovemaking in literature?
2:
According to Aristotle the tragic hero is a nobleman, who has one tragic flaw such as pride, which causes him to commit hubris. Consequently he must experience a fall from grace. Eventually he realises his mistake and finally undergoes a catharsis to be restored to his original glory and fortune.
Examine whether or not Othello, Iago and/or Richard III fit the description of a tragic hero according to Aristotle.
- Is he a nobleman?
- Does he have one tragic flaw?
- Does it cause him to commit hubris
- Does he experience a fall from grace?
- Does he realise his mistake eventually?
- And does he undergo a catharsis?
- Is he restored to his original glory and fortune?
And what about Cassio from Othello? Does he fit the description?
3:
Write a paper about the tragic hero and what separates him from the villain.
Why can Othello be said to be a tragic hero as opposed to King Richard the III,
who is an arch villain?
Does evil have to be premeditated? And if yes, does that mean that Othello is not a villain at all?
The story about King David and Bathsheba (Genesis 39) should be included in your paper.
4:
Compare the Elizabethan idea of the Chain of Being to the philosophy of life conveyed in the quotations below:
a: The Calvinist doctrine embraced by the Puritans maintained that every human being is predestined from before birth, indeed from the beginning of time, for paradise or the pit. But this did not lead them to feel they could do as they pleased on the grounds that no action of theirs would make any difference. They assumed that the people they called “saints,” that is, those chosen by God to spend eternity in heaven, would by their nature live godly, well-ordered lives.
(Source Frances Hill: A Delusion of Satan p. 9, ll. 22-28. Doubleday. 1995)
b: When he had more time on his half day, Mr Hudson’s interests lay in sport and the law. Lords cricket ground in the summer, to watch the great Dr Grace or Ranjitsinghi; the Fulham football Club’s field in the winter to see his heroes battling in the mud. But, at all times of the year the Law courts were Mr Hudson’s favourite haunt, not, as he was quick to explain, to gaze with morbid curiosity at the faces of murderers, but to hear the great advocates of the day plead their cases.
If he had been born to a different station in life, he felt sure that he could have become a great lawyer, but it was not to be. The Lord above saw to it that every human being was placed in a certain rank at birth, and as far as Mr Hudson was concerned, that was that.
(John Hawkesworth: Upstairs, Downstairs. Or the Secrets of an Edwardian Household. Sphere Books Ltd. 1972, p. 22, ll. 1-14. See also Links – Literature Past and Present, p. 80, ll. 12-24)
